Omar Butterfield, the Devonshire Cougars coach, was scathing of the match officials after his team’s hard-earned 2-2 draw away to Somerset Trojans yesterday.

The son of former Trojans goalkeeper Wayne Butterfield took issue with a few calls that went ignored, including two strong shouts for penalties in the second half.

“I am not pleased with the officiating and the referees have to do better to protect my players,” Butterfield said. “I really have an issue with the officiating, which is starting to get ridiculous now.

“I understand that nobody is perfect and calls get made, but it’s blatant stuff out there and if I have players getting hurt, then that shows you that people need to do their job. We had two clear penalties and other fouls that went unpunished.

“I am not asking for special treatment, but it’s the referee’s responsibility first of all to protect the players.”

Justin Corday put Trojans ahead ten minutes into the game before Cougars equalised in the 33rd minute through Juma Mouchette.

Trojans regained the lead early in the second half through Hubert Butterfield before Zeko White, the Cougars captain, pounced to earn the visiting side a share of the spoils.

“It’s always disappointing when you’re up and then you can’t hold on,” Corday, the Trojans captain, said.

“Obviously we want to win every game but sometimes you have to work with you have. We are not walking out of here with a loss, so we will take that.

“They had some good chances, we had good chances; it could have gone either way.”

PHC will enter 2017 as the unbeaten league leaders after their come-from-behind win over champions Dandy Town at St John’s Field, where defender Daren Usher scored a late winner.

Angelo Simmons gave Dandy Town an early lead with his seventh goal in three games, but PHC were back on level terms in the 26th minute after the Town defence was unable to clear the ball from a scramble inside the box and Rakeem DeShields forced the ball home.

“Definitely disappointed in the manner they scored that goal,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, said. “We have to make teams work extra hard to score against us.

“Today we gave PHC their first goal and the second goal was a bit of a fluke, but that’s a part of the game. We must push on, show some character and accept the challenge ahead of us.”

Few would have predicted that Town, so impressive last season in winning the league, would languish in the bottom two at the halfway stage. Things looked to be improving after last weekend’s 5-1 win over Flanagan’s Onions, only to slip to their seventh loss in nine matches.

“We have to keep pushing on, going back to the training ground and giving a little extra and continue to be honest,” Wilkinson said. “We’re definitely playing better, digging deeper defensively and we understand the urgency of putting points on the board.

“We promised our fans and the club that we will do more in the second half and we’re heading in the right direction, in my eyes.”

PHC are certainly heading in the right direction after making it seven wins from nine matches to lead the champions by 19 points. It made coach Scott Morton’s return to St John’s Field all the more enjoyable.

“It was beautiful, not just the three points, but as soon as I arrived at the ground, I saw my old friends and was able to greet them,” Morton said. “I haven’t seen them in a while, even though I live close by.

“We’re still undefeated and, psychologically, that’s big. These types of games just help us find out where we are and what we have to do.”

Pierre Smith’s eighth-minute earned home side North Village a 1-0 victory over Somerset Eagles at Bernard Park.

Smith slipped the ball under advancing goalkeeper Lorenzo Lambert after being played through by Keishen Bean’s defence-splitting pass.

Devarr Boyles should have been pleased with the result, which keeps his team three points adrift of leaders PHC, but he admitted that his team did not play to their potential.

“Our team played on edge today, which affected our passing game, particularly in the first half,” Boyles said. “We kept losing the ball to the opposition and our game lacked in quality passing.

“We struggled trying to find the right balance between relaxation and tension, making the game difficult for ourselves. We hope to become more consistent in this aspect of our game.”

In yesterday’s remaining Premier Division fixture, Flanagan’s Onions put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone when they scored two late goals to beat Devonshire Colts 2-0 at Goose Gosling Field.

Onions, with just a single league win before yesterday, finally broke the deadlock in the 69th minute when Shaki Swan scored. Treshun Smith made certain of the points with a second goal nine minutes from the end. The win moved Onions ahead of Somerset Eagles and four points clear of Colts and Dandy Town, the bottom pair.

The ninth round of match is completed tonight when Robin Hood host Boulevard at Goose Gosling’s Field, starting at 9.00.